The invention relates to a method of determining the grade of service provided for a user of a mobile station by a mobile telephone system, comprising a network part, mobile station and bidirectional radio link between the network part and mobile station, and said grade of service comprising service classes.
In mobile telephone systems of the prior art the user employs a mobile station in order to transmit speech or data over a radio link. The network part does not in any way optimize the capacity use of the transmission connections it utilizes depending on whether the radio link is used for speech or data transmission. In principle, the same grade of service is provided for all users. This results in waste of capacity in the network part. Furthermore, with the present mobile telephone systems it is not possible to price services differently according to the used grade of service.
With respect to further development of the present GSM/DCS 1800 system and the UMTS system under development as well as with respect to other future mobile telephone systems it is essential that in addition to speech and data, data requiring a greater transmission capacity, e.g. moving video pictures, can also be transmitted in them. Such an advanced mobile telephone system cannot be constructed according to the principles of the present systems, i.e. so as to provide all users with the same grade of service. This would be very expensive, since the transmission capacity of the network part would have to be defined according to the service requiring the greatest amount of transmission capacity, e.g. according to the capacity required for transmitting moving video pictures.
Advanced mobile telephone systems require introduction of different methods which enable efficient and optimal use of the transmission capacity in each specific case. It must be possible to optimize the methods, and they also have to be cost-effective and provide network operators with flexibility for managing different load situations of the network part.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art solutions.
This is achieved with the method set forth in the introduction, characterized in that each user is assigned a service class according to the grade of service guaranteed by the mobile telephone system to a user of a mobile station on the basis of the conditions of the mobile telephone system.
The invention also relates to a mobile telephone system comprising a network part, mobile station and bidirectional radio link between the network part and mobile station, the grade of service comprising service classes, characterized in that each user is assigned a service class according to the grade of service guaranteed by the mobile telephone system to a user of a mobile station on the basis of the conditions of the mobile telephone system, and in that the network part is arranged to carry out the processing of parameters that is needed for determining the grade of service, said parameters being preselected variables representing features of the mobile telephone system and its use.
The invention further relates to a mobile telephone system comprising a network part, mobile station and bidirectional radio link between the network part and mobile station, the grade of service comprising service classes, characterized in that each user is assigned a service class according to the grade of service guaranteed by the mobile telephone system to a user of a mobile station on the basis of the conditions of the mobile telephone system, and in that the mobile station is arranged to receive the grade of service from the network part.
The method of the invention has several advantages. One of the greatest advantages is that the use of the network part is optimized according to the service class employed by the user. As a result of this, it is possible to save on costs considerably in the construction of the network part, since it is not necessary to reserve extra capacity, but the amount of capacity can be defined according to the real use. To a mobile station user the invention means increase in the quality of services, e.g. call set-up is more reliable than in the prior art. It is also possible to provide new services, e.g. transmission of moving video pictures, for the user cost-effectively, even economically. On the other hand, the user is charged on the basis of the service class he employs, whereby the user, if he so desires, can select the service class that is most suitable and economical for him. The service class employed by the user is clearly indicated by his mobile station. The user also receives other useful information on the service class in use, e.g. the transmission speed. By utilizing the present method the network operator can flexibly control the use of the network part so as to optimize the costs arising from its use and the quality of the services provided for the user.